Gift Of The Recluse
by Hylik
Summary: Misunderstood, that's how Simon always described himself. He believed that no one could truly understand the pain he went through since the loss of both of his legs, no one could truly grasp the sheer horror of the thing he had witnessed in his mind and the demons he had fought within it, but things changed when a menacing looking cat offered him a job.
1. Remnants

Dear Andreas Purnell

How have you been? It's been a while since the last time we were able to talk, back at Oxford University when we were so young.  
I can still remember the nights we spent drinking and playing cards for hours on end, the fear for the countless exams, the parties, all the joys and laughter we shared together.  
After your graduation, I was really sad when I discovered that you had to leave Oxford and never come back, but I guess that job offer from your hometown was too good for you to turn down.  
But enough with the nostalgia, we are both doctors and I want to talk about work, perhaps a collaboration, let me explain first:

I became a relevant figure here in London, as a therapist and a respectable man of society I run a lovely orphanage where I gather lost and scared children to give them a roof under their heads and a purpose in life.  
Things have gone quite smoothly for me in the past years except for one thing: a young woman named Alice that works as a maid and is also one of my many patients is not having much success with her therapy.  
Now, under normal circumstances, I would not talk about the private life of my patients nor the treatments I put them through, but you have to understand that this is not a normal circumstance by any means.  
Alice is the only survivor from a fire the destroyed his house and killed his entire family, a tragic event of her childhood that scarred her for life and doomed her to waste ten years of her life in a disgusting mental asylum.  
Luckily for her, she was deemed sane enough to be released, and since I was very close to her family I decided to take her under my protection.

I gave her everything I had to offer in order to guarantee her a meaningful future, but some people are simply very ungrateful.  
Instead of improving upon herself she spends most of her time locked in a catatonic state to visit a place inside her mind that she likes to call "Wonderland", a twisted and malevolent creation that causes her horrible nightmares and hallucinations.

I have tried many times to erase the memories of the fire and possibly wonderland through my sessions of hypnosis but with no avail.  
Nothing is working with her, and I am running out of patience and ideas.

I have no idea what to do and I really need the opinion of the only colleague that I can trust.  
Maybe we could see each other one day and work together once again.

Sincerely, Angus Bumby.


	2. Prisoner Of Psyche

The train track was stained red just as her apron, wet with the blood of her former therapist.  
As she contemplated the beautiful mess she had made she tasted true freedom for the first time, no longer bound by the lies of her doctor she could finally be in control of her own life.  
She looked down at the rusty key clutched in her hand, the key to her deceased sister's room, that Bumby had kept as a sick memento of the fire.  
She could feel rage and disgust bubbling inside her stomach just like the first time, but also relief, in the end, she had just avenged his entire family that day.  
Alice turned around and headed up the stairs leading away from Moorgate Station and back onto the streets of London, she felt her body getting lighter and lighter with each step up, sorrow was replaced with satisfaction and the weight in her abdomen ceased to ache.  
As she reached the surface Alice witnessed how the Wonderland and reality came crashing, buildings were engulfed in vegetation, there were trees seemingly grown out of nowhere, with huge roots that made the path very irregular, colourful mushrooms twice here size adorned the sides of the street, and dices and playing cards littered the floor as far as the eye could see.  
Alice was walking on High-end Street admiring the new look that the entire city had received from her madness.  
The streets were desert, no sign of any man, woman nor children just her and the blissful silence, even at that time Alice knew very well that it was all just an illusion, a trick of her mind that would eventually decay and reveal the ugliness concealed beneath, but for now she could not do anything but enjoying this moment until the very last.  
Fortunately, the streets weren't completely solitary, walking right beside Alice stood a menacing cat with a wide toothy smile, but she did not greet nor acknowledged the presence of her old friend in anyways and simply allowed the animal to follow her.  
"Ah, Alice," the Cheshire cat spoke as they got closer to the end of the street.  
"We can't go home again. No surprise, really. Only a very few find the way, and most of them don't recognize it when they do"  
Alice tried to ignore him as much as she could, but she could not deny the truthfulness of his words.  
"Delusions, too, die hard," he continued. "Only the savage regard the endurance of pain a measure of worth. Forgetting the pain is convenient. Remembering it, agonizing, but recovering the truth is worth the suffering. And now our Wonderland, though damaged, is safe in memory…..for now"  
During every night Alice dreams about the day when she put an end to the tyranny of the dollmaker, saving the wonderland from his destructive plans.  
It was a memory that haunted her every time she closes her eyes to sleep, but instead of resting, her mind would bring her to the place where an important chapter of his life ended, and this night was no exception.  
She had listened to his speech many times before, but just like every other time Cheshire's speech made little to no sense, which wasn't all that surprising considering his cryptic nature, but now more than ever she felt disarmed against this new trial her mind gave her.  
Even the cat himself didn't seem to notice the limbo in which they wandered.  
Luckily for her, Alice had lived through this memory so many times before to know how to escape from, in fact it was quite simply the only thing she had to do was to walk until she reached the end of High-end Street and she would just…..

"Wake up, wake up Alice, Breakfast is ready"  
Alice was awoken by the sound of slow and steady knocks to her bedroom door, lazily recovering from the slumber she looked at the clock mounted on the wall beside her.  
It was very early in the morning and the sunlight had barely started to creep through the window.  
Alice sat on her bed rubbing her sleepy eyes and answered the calls of her employer.  
"I am awake Mr. Marchant, just give me a moment to change and I'll gladly have breakfast with you"  
She could hear a faint chuckle from behind the door and the sound of footsteps slowly descending into the floor below.  
Alice got out of bed and changed from her nightgown to her usual black and white outfit.  
She splashed some water onto her face to remove any traces of sleep from her and took a good look at herself in the mirror before heading downstairs, her figure still small and frail, from the outside she seemed weak and defenseless but Alice knew very well the strength in her.  
When the hallucinations finally subsided Alice had to face the consequences of her actions, she could no longer live at Houndsditch home, she had to flee and find a place to hide from the police that will soon be in pursuit to find Bumby's murderer, to find her.  
She had to find a place far away from the crime scene, a place where he could live without rising too much suspect.  
She remembered her parents referring to the opera house as "the only place where dreams come alive", in fact, her parents loved to bring her and her sister to the opera, something that she totally missed after the fire.  
It was a risky decision, she knew it, but it was the only idea that she had, she gathered all the money, clothes and personal belongings that she could possibly fit in her only good suitcase and just moved away without telling anyone.  
She managed to track down the staff manager of the London Royal Opera house, a cheerful old man named Jamison Marchant and begged him to make her work.  
To her surprise Marchant was so kind that not only gave Alice a Job but also hospitality until she found a better place to live, which was something that Alice found rather suspicious at first almost unnatural.  
All in all, Alice could consider herself lucky, she expected to live the rest of her day locked in a prison or in the streets as a prostitute, but here she was sitting on a table in front of a hot plate of bacon and eggs inside the house of her oblivious employer.  
Marchant was sitting at the other end of the table with a cup of tea in one hand and the daily newspaper in the other.  
He read through the article on the front-page, quietly sipping on his tea when suddenly his placid smile turned into a stern face.  
He placed his cup on the table and handed the newspaper to Alice.  
"Take a look at the first article"  
Alice left the cutlery onto the plate and took the newspaper with both hands as she was still chewing on food, there she read:  
MANGLED BODY FOUND AT MOORGATE STATION  
She almost choked on a piece of bacon as she saw the headline, but continued reading as if nothing happened.  
She found hard not to grin as she read the whole article, a few days have passed since that day and only now the police found his body, which was something Alice found particularly amusing.  
The article explained how the body was found and that the severity of the injuries caused by the impact with a train made identification almost impossible, it's suspected that the victim is Angus Bumby, the notorious doctor that mysteriously disappeared some days prior to the murder.  
The police stated that they were already investigating Bumby's disappearance and that this event will only contribute to finding clues to solve the case.  
Alice could barely suppress the grin that appeared on her face as she reached the end of the article, normally she would be annoyed even disgusted by this vulgar display of attention towards a murder, but she wasn't, instead, she felt powerful.  
The entire city was in dismay for this event, people feared that the killer might strike again, but Alice was only one who knew the truth, there were no witnesses that day, no proofs were left on the crime scene, there was nothing that nothing could possibly compromise her.  
"I knew Bumby personally, he didn't deserve to die in such a horrible way"  
said before emptying his cup of tea.  
Alice placed the newspaper on the table and ate the last bits of her breakfast.  
"He was a good man; I wonder who could have done this" Said Alice in a slightly sarcastic tone.  
"Do you think that the police are going to find the killer ?" Asked Marchant  
"I don't think so , there were no witnesses when the murder happened, and besides that, the killer has probably left London for all we know"  
replied Alice.  
"I think you are right, and please Alice call me Jamie, was my father's name you don't need to be so formal"  
He got up from his seat and took all cups and plates from the table gave a quick glance at his wristwatch.  
"Oh lord look at the time, you should head to the theatre Alice, I have to get some things fixed before I can come over," Said Marchant as he headed towards the kitchen.  
Alice cleaned her mouth with a napkin and got up from her seat, she wanted to thank her employer for the meal but the man had already disappeared inside the kitchen where loud metal noises were coming from within, all this haste reminded her of the first time she met the white rabbit.  
She decided it was best to leave him alone, instead she stepped outside the flat and onto the streets of London.  
At that time of the day, there was little to no one on the streets, the air was humid that day and a faint mist billowed around her giving London an eerie atmosphere.  
Alice didn't have to walk that far as the Opera house was just on the other side of the road, she could see that the main entrance was still closed but she knew a more private entrance that was reserved for the staff members.  
She circled the building until she reached a small hidden door, she pulled out a key from her apron's pocket, opened the door and stepped inside.  
The job itself was only supposed to last until the police gave up on the case, she didn't really have any care or concern for the opera house at first.  
Despite that she learned to enjoy her job, even though she could only do backstage work, she earned enough money to have a life of her own and on top of that, she could watch all the shows that she wanted for free.

At the end of another exhausting day of work Alice lay in her bed reading a book with the dim light of a candle, she tried to distract herself with the novel she was just reading, but the lines on the book looked blurred and confused as she could not take away the concern she had for her wonderland, her mind was fixed on a memory that she could not get rid of it, and now more than ever she would gladly listen to one of Cheshire's many riddles.  
When Alice finally got tired of the book, she places it on the nightstand and blew on the candle leaving her room completely in the dark.  
She lay on the side with her eyes closed waiting for torpor to overcome her.  
She kept telling herself that this time it was going to be differ, that this time she was going to return to Wonderland and meet all of her friends once again, that her wonderland was safe and that the nightmares were over, she kept telling herself all of that even after she heard the sound of trains whistling into her ears.


	3. The Descent

"3 little kiddies playing in the park, said the first kiddie, let's go home before it gets dark, the first two went on their merry way home. The third stayed playing. All alone. Come here little child, come to me!

The bushes whispered softly, I have got wonders for you to see"

Simon chanted the song in the darkness of the main deck, it was an old memory from his childhood that for some unknown reason surfaced from the depth of his mind.

He could not understand why, yet he was glad that he had something to keep himself busy on this gloomy night.

It filled his head with a familiar sound, from a time where he still had control over his thoughts, when there were no other voices besides his own.

But the voices inside his head stopped talking a long time ago, back when he defeated the worst part of himself, during that fateful night, the monster that dwelled within his mind was long deceased just as the nightmares that once haunted him.

Simon enjoyed the rare moments of solitude he had, away from his doctor's treatments, away from his hometown and away from the ghosts of his past.

Doctor Purnell received a letter from a colleague in London, it said that he needed his help to cure one of his most stubborn patients, at first he was surprised to receive notices from a friend he hasn't seen in many years, but surprise was quickly overcome by enthusiasm, as he could not wait to meet one of his dearest friends once again and took a ship to London as soon as possible.

Purnell decided it was best to bring Simon along with him, his conditions became a lot more stable in past month but he still had a long way to go and a strict therapy to follow.

Simon, on the other hand, truly could not understand why his doctor insisted so much in bringing him along, he didn't want to get involved in his affairs.

They left Sweden two weeks ago in an old rusty ship as a second class passenger, probably with the worst weather of the season, which considering Simon frail health and general restlessness, caused him to have even more sleepless nights and difficulty to eat solid food.

The doctor tried to patch him up as best as could with the medicines he had, but their destination was still far away and Simon's patience was running short.

He found himself a nice cozy spot on the ship's main deck where he could rest in peace and reflect without the presence of the other passengers that snubbed him for being stuck in a wheelchair.

An empty bucket stood on his lap, in case of another attack of seasickness, with his arms folded around the tiny metal object in a greedy yet protective manner.

Simon looked over the rusty metal railing of the deck and down to the dark water below, the moon was shining brightly above him painting the sea with shades of white and silver, a cold wind blowing through his scarf.

In the mist of his thoughts, he contemplated the possibility of falling off the ship to his doom, no one was on sight and in the immensity of the ocean, it was very unlikely to find his body.

But he knew that his paralysis made all of his plans impossible, his suicidal thoughts weren't as frequent as they once were which he assumed was a sign that Purnell's therapy was working.

With his peripheral vision, Simon spotted a familiar shape coming towards him, the sound of his footsteps getting louder and louder with each step until it reached his side.

"Speaking of the devil" Simon murmured to himself.

"Good evening Simon, how are you feeling tonight?" Doctor Purnell asked.

The doctor had just returned from the dining hall and he was wearing rather elegant white attire; a choice of clothing which Simon never saw him wearing.

 _HOW AM I FEELING?_ _You perfectly know how am I feeling yet you insist to ask me this goddam question every single day._

It was something that made his blood boil, yet he tried his best to control his temper.

"My guts are killing me doc, how far we are from London?" Said Simon.

"I can't tell you precisely Simon, but for what I know the shores of England are not too far away" the doctor replied as he looked at the horizon.

"You said the exact same thing a week ago and we are still stuck on this fucking ship" Simon slammed one hateful fist onto his wheelchair but Purnell remained unfazed but his display of anger, continuing to speak with his usual calm and professional tone.

"You have to be patient Simon, I am not enjoying our current accommodation too, but we have to endure a little longer because, in the end, we are all in the same boat".

Simon cringed at his poor attempt to make a joke and tried to sink into his chair as much as he could.

"Just bring me to my cabin already" Simon begged.

"Are you sure about that?" the doctor asked

"Yes doc it's been a long day; I am tired" the crippled man pleaded one more time.

Luckily for him, the captain had been merciful enough to give them a cabin the least amount of stairs in their way, Purnell went behind Simon and pushed his wheelchair through the main deck and into the depth of the ship.

There was still activity going on in some areas of the ship, but mostly the rooms and windows were dark and quiet save for the occasional chatter coming from the few crew members left to clean the kitchens.

They reached the second class quarter where they shared a room, it was a Purnell's idea to save some money just in case they had to stay in London a little longer than expected, Simon didn't mind sharing his room with his doctor since he was the only one that could assist him with his paralysis.

When they entered their room Purnell lit a single oil lamp to illuminate the place, he then aided Simon to change into his nightgown.

Purnell lifted the crippled from his wheelchair and tucked him into his bed, he then placed Simon's wheelchair beside his bed and also changed his clothes.

As both mans rested in their own bed Simon asked about the past of Purnell's colleague, the doctor told Simon that he met him during university back at Oxford, they followed the same courses and quickly became friends, but he had moved to Sweden before he could see his friend graduate.

Their talk didn't last for long, and after a brief exchange of goodnights, Purnell was the first to fell asleep which left Simon alone in the dark.

Simon wasn't really all that tired; it was all a lie he said just so he could get back to his room.

He laid down on his bed, his gaze pointing up towards the ceiling, thinking, he looked at the sleeping figure of his doctor on the other side of the room, oblivious to his thoughts.

He had other plans for this "vacation", other than being a puppet for his doctor, in fact, he always did most of his things during the night.

Coughing blood on the floor of a dim square the hideous abomination emitted a shriek of pain from his bloody mouth, it was pinned down on the ground by the weight of Simon's foot pressing on his chest, staring at the barrel of his gun, starring at Simon with his black hollow eye sockets.

With a look of satisfaction on his face, Simon pulled the trigger, a bullet flew through the air and went inside the monster skull, ending its life instantly.

It was probably his favorite thing to do in his free time, even though he had defeated his arch enemy a long time ago his mind was still infested with anomalies, a more sophisticated name that he gave to the monsters that kept haunting him.

His dreams always brought him back to the streets of his hometown for no real reason.

He wasn't afraid of the monsters anymore, they were only an annoyance for him, parasites that didn't deserve live.

Simon pulled out his diary from his bag to read some notes written inside, he had discovered that the book possessed powers, not only he could use it as a powerful weapon but acted as sort of guide that told him the position of all the anomalies within a short range.

Simon quickly flipped the pages of the book until he reached the one that shown the current day, he had already executed other anomalies that same day so he just skipped the previous location until he reached the bottom of the page, where a new note had just appeared.

Suddenly Simon felt the strong grip of a hand pulling him backward, his body flew through the air and then was slammed to the ground with great force.

A groan of pain escaped his mouth as he looked up to see the face of his aggressor, a Taller towered over him, his immense grey figure was one of the few things that still sent shivers down his spine, but it was nothing that he didn't already experience before.

The huge anomaly raised a foot to crush his head, but promptly Simon took his revolver and fired a shot through the monster knee.

The creature made a guttural noise from his gaping mouth before losing balance and kneeling on the ground.

Simon took this opportunity to slide away from his gip and get back on his feet, the Taller extended one long arm and tried to grab Simon, but the man easily dodged its attack and thrust his pocket knife into the monster's throat.

The blade wasn't very long but it was sharp enough to slice through flesh, in a swift move Simon run the blade along the Taller's neck and then backed off.

The taller placed a hand on his wound to stop the bleeding, but it was already too late, the blood was pouring down like a river and its hands could not close the wound.

It made a few futile attempts to crawl towards Simon, but with each movement the Taller grew weaker until it lay lifeless on the ground, face first in a pool of his own blood.

"That was a close one," Simon told to himself.

He kicked the Taller's body to see if it was actually dead, but thankfully it made no sign of movement

Simon looked around to see if there were other anomalies lurking in the shadows, but the square and alleys around him looked all empty.

Releasing a breath of relief, he made a mental note to self to be more aware of his surroundings.

He picked up his diary from the ground and wiped off of the dust on it, the pages were stained with the blood of the Taller but other than that it was intact.

There at the end of the page, Simon found a note that had just appeared and the ink was still fresh, it gave him the position of an anomaly through a series of precise indications.

With the aid of the book, things were a lot easier, it almost looked like someone was helping him, purposely guiding him through the city.

But Simon wasn't very impressionable and rarely questioned the cryptic trials of his mind, he had one job to do and the night was still young.

After hours spent hunting down anomalies, Simon decided to call it a day and went back to his apartment, where he could rest before returning to the real world.

He was sitting at his kitchen table writing notes on his diary like he used to do every night, it all started as a therapy, grew into a habit and ended up into an addiction, to the point he felt the need to write even the most insignificant events.

Simon raised one hand to wipe some sweat from his forehead, only to find out that he had ink smeared all over his hand and forearm.

He noticed that the room was painfully hot, something very unnatural to happen in the dead of the night, he placed the diary in his bag and got up from his seat to take a breath of fresh air.

Outside his balcony, he pulled out a cigar from a pocket inside his jacket, lit a match a burnt the end of the cigar.

He looked down at the quiet city's streets, it was much different from when he first returned to his mind before the cleansing the streets were crawling with anomalies.

But Simon and his doctor erased a lot of monsters in relatively little time, an achievement that surprised him to this day.

Speaking of the doctor, Simon noticed that he had not encountered him this night, which wasn't all that surprising since the doctor liked to be on his own.

Not that he particularly enjoyed his company since he was always scolding him about being too reckless and "acting too much and thinking too less" as he liked to say, but having a helping hand when fighting disgusting creatures was always welcomed.

Simon pushed this thought out of his mind and kept smoking, savoring the intoxicating taste of the cigar and burning wood.

 _Burning wood?_ Simon spun around to see if anything in his house was burning, but everything was in order and the oil lamp on the table was left untouched.

His gaze then fell to his apartment's door, and the eerie orange glow that was coming from underneath it.

Simon blew the smoke out of his mouth and threw what was left of the cigar over the balcony before making a B line towards the door, taking his bag and pistol along the way.

A burning hot wind and black smoke blew in his face as he opened the front door, Simon covers his mouth with a hand and stepped forward into the hallway of a house he has never seen before, the whole place was enveloped with fire.

He could hear human voices coming from the rooms nearby, along with grunts, hisses, and screams of pain.

Simon checked his surroundings for any survivors, there were three doors on the hallway including the one where he came from, the first one was locked from the other side and had a key inserted in the keyhole, the second one opened with ease, revealing a child bedroom.

Inside he found a little girl, probably no older than eight, in her bed, her arms were tightly folded around a stuffed animal.

Her green eyes narrowed Simon down as soon as he noticed his presence, an expression of terror was printed all over her face.

Simon tried to rescue the little girl but suddenly parts of the ceiling collapsed into a burning pile right before him, trapping the little girl inside her bedroom.

Some wood splinters fell onto his jacket spreading fire upon his arm as he made his way through the fire, he promptly threw the jacket away to avoid any burns but it wasn't enough, the fire spread from his arm to his shoulder and then his back, and in the space of seconds Simon had his body completely engulfed by the flames.

Quickly he turned to the door from which he came only to find out that it was closed, Simon slammed one bloody fist onto the door.

He kept hitting the door hoping that it would open, but the door didn't budge.

Simon crumbled to his knees almost curling up into a ball, the pain was becoming unbearable, he could feel his burned skin dripping off the flesh.

Like an animal trapped in a cage Simon desperately searched for a way to escape from this inferno.

There he saw it, just out of reach, he saw a window right at the end of the hallway, it was his only way out, his only salvation.

He gathered all the strength he had left in himself to sprint forward, he ran like he never did before.

When he finally reached the window Simon leaped towards the window, shattering the glass and escaped from the fire.

Simon closed his eyes to avoid any glass shards, he could not see where he was but he could feel that his body was falling through the air.

He kept his eyes closed, preparing his body for the imminent impact, only to find himself still in the air.

His body didn't hit the ground, instead, he kept falling, the scorched hot air gradually turned cold as he escaped from the burning house.

As he descended into darkness the agonizing pain subsided, his weakened body turned numb and his mind blank.

Simon fainted, but before his consciousness slipped away he saw that same little girl by his side, falling along with him.


	4. Allegiance

When Simon opened his eyes he was greeted by a deep blue sky and a cool breeze blowing through his clothes, the sun was already above the horizon and the light almost blinded him as it shined on his face.

" _Where am I? Am I still dreaming?"_ the young man wondered.

He could not fell a ground beneath him so he assumed he was still somewhere falling through the air.

Simon painfully turned his entire body to face the earth below, he looked down to see a luxuriant land coming towards him as he was coming towards it.

It took a while for realization to dawn upon him, as he was encased in a torpid state, but at last he awoken completely.

Simon was precipitating at a great speed towards the ground with no way of escape, when the man finally digested this information he started screaming in panic, begging for anyone to save him, but there was no one to hear his cries.

The cool breeze turned into a harsh wind as the land got closer and closer as each second passed.

Seeing that there was no one to save him Simon put his hands over his eyes and waited for his demise to come.

But it didn't, just as before he expected to feel the impact with the ground but instead he felt weightlessness in his body, as he was gently floating.

He peaked through the space between his fingers to see that he was indeed floating, he was gently gliding through the air, light as a feather, and landed on his feet to the ground.

He was speechless, to say the least; he had never experienced something like similar during one of his dreams and didn't know what to think of it.

Simon instinctively checked his body to see if he had any major injuries and, much to his surprise, not only he was unscratched from the fall and the fire but he also noticed that his clothes had been replaced with others.

Instead of his usual grey attire he wore a navy blue suit, underneath the jacket there was a perfectly white shirt with a black tie tied around his neck.

At his feet, he had a pair of shiny leather shoes with spats.

Simon also noticed that his gloves had completely disappeared and that his bag was, luckily, left untouched.

Or that's what he thought before he noticed a rather large skull-shaped metal brooch sticking out from the side of his bag.

He had no idea where all those things came from, but that was the least absurd thing that happened to him that day.

It was a lot of things to take all at once so Simon decided to sit down and rest for a while.

In the meantime, Simon's eyes wandered all around him exploring the new unknown place.

He discovered that the land where he stood was actually floating isle in the sky, he looked down from a cliff nearby to see an endless green landscape, stretching as far as the eye could see.

He could see other floating isles in the distance, some bigger than others, but all of them were filled with vegetation.

Then his attention shifted, towards the forest that stood behind him, it had some very tall trees that shadowed the entire undergrowth with their large fronds, the trees felt very disproportionate but then again he could not expect any sense of realism in one of his dreams.

Although the isle flourished with life, it looked scarred, as if something terrible had just happened recently and it was trying to recover from the trauma.

When Simon finally felt rested he got on his feet and entered the forest, hopeful to find a way out.

Simon found the bed of a dried river and used it as a pathway to access the innards of the forest, noticing even more strange things along his way.

Colorful mushrooms, giant dices, and marbles littered the undergrowth, various cups, pots, and even a steaming kettle, everything around him was about twice his size, making him feel very tiny.

He even came across a stone statue, Simon assumed it was of woman judging by its clothes but the face was too disfigured to recognize who she was.

After passing under an entire bridge made out of domino pieces the river's bed led him to a clearing with a small pond in the middle of it.

The clearing was just a circular piece of land that lacked trees but there was something eerie about it, it felt out of place and artificial, Simon felt as if something was watching him, spying him from behind the deep vegetation and he had lived enough nightmares to understand that feeling.

The pond was filled with a suspicious black oily liquid and as came by the shores he noticed a series of large white doll head floating on the surface. They all looked deformed, burned or corroded by the unknown substance and had barely any human features left.

As he knelt down to inspect the hollow doll heads Simon felt the ground beneath him shaking, and suddenly a black mass of liquid emerged from the depth of the pond.

The black mass took the shape of a giant snake; his body was mostly made out of goo but doll heads and various metal scraps could be seen sticking out from his body.

The creature made a horrible screeching sound and Simon's muscle memory kicked in and draw out his gun to defend himself.

The snake lunged towards Simon to bite him but the man promptly dodged his attack and fired a few shots from his revolver, unfortunately, the bullets seemed to go straight through his slimy mass and when they didn't they just bounced off the metal bits.

The snake kept about half of his body underneath the pond while only exposing the other half of it and its head, he attacked by biting and spitting corrosive globs of black goo.

It was unpredictable at first, but after a few unlucky strikes and missed bullets, Simon memorized his patterns.

The man kept taking pot shots at the snake, taking cover behind trees and rocks whenever he needed to reload his gun, until a bullet accidentally hit one of the doll's head, shattering it completely.

A smile appeared on Simon's face when he heard the sickening sound of the snake in agony, giving away his weak spot.

The man kept firing at the doll's heads as best as he could, his aim wasn't perfect put it was good enough to destroy most of the heads on its body, causing massive injuries to the snake.

The monster, now worn-out from the fight, launched a last desperate attack, he slammed his entire body on the ground in an attempt to crush Simon.

Simon managed to survive the attack but received a forceful hit to his back that knocked his pistol from his grip and made him fell to the ground.

With his weapon out of his reach and the giant snake towering right above him he thought that it was the end of him, but then he remembered that he still had one last weapon that he could use.

Simon hastily pulled his diary out of his bag as the snake was about to strike his final killing blow, he flipped through the pages until he reached the one he was looking for and aim it towards the snake.

A stream of flames emerged from within the pages igniting the snake's head instantly, Simon could feel the heat burning through the pages, the tips of his fingers were aching and his palms were sweating but he kept the book steadily in his hand.

The fire quickly spread from snake's head to the rest of his body and in the blink of an eye, the entire pond and its shores were swallowed by the flames.

The snake tried to fight back, it tried to retreat but everything around him was on fire, with no way to escape the creature collapsed onto the ground where it remained motionless.

Out of breath and with his hearth hammering in his chest, Simon placed the smoking book in his bag and watched as the creature burnt to death, the fire had disfigured its carcass completely leaving only a wrecked mess of metal and doll pieces.

 _"_ _I guess this is not my lucky day_." Simon thought before he rested his head on the grassy ground and closed his eyes, shutting out the sunlight far above.

* * *

"Now where is the damn thing" Simon said to himself while he was searching for his lost weapon, frustration seething through every word, he remembered seeing his gun being knocked out of his had by the impact with giant snake but could not pinpoint were it went, he had scouted the clearing multiple times but to no avail, he looked everywhere, in the tall grass, the shores of the pond and he even checked a few times near the snake carcass just to be sure not to miss anything, but nothing.

Simon rubbed the bridge of his nose and gave a loud sigh, a million thoughts racing through his head that definitely didn't alleviate his headache.

 _Why am I here? How do I get out? What are those creatures?_ By now he was convinced that this place was not his mind, everything looked too bright and too different from what he had lived in the last years, but if this wasn't his mind then where was he? Questions after questions and none of them could be answered.

But even in the heat of all of his reasoning, he could still feel a sensation of impending doom lingering in the back of his head.

It all started when he first entered the clearing, Simon had the feeling that someone was watching him, at first he thought that it was the hidden presence of the snake that was making him feel uneasy but the feeling persisted even after its death, and he had lived through enough nightmares to know that it wasn't just paranoia and he'd better keep both of his eyes open at all times for anything and anyone.

"There it is!" Simon said cheerfully as he spotted his target, his thoughts immediately retreated in the depth of his mind as soon as he spotted his gun, the shiny metal object laid hidden underneath some bushes on the far edge of the clearing and quite far from the fight that took place just minutes before.

 _I wonder how it got that far_ , thought Simon.

He moved forward towards his weapon but as he was kneeling down to pick it up from the ground with the corner of his eye he saw a shadow dashing right behind him.

Simon spun his body in a single move, weapon ready in his hands, but there was no one to be seen.

"That's it, this is the last time I refuse to take my medicines"

"You have no idea how many times she told me the exact same thing" An unknown voice replied to Simon.

The man jumped backward for the surprise and was about to fall to the ground again, but regained his balance and turned around to see the source of the voice.

Standing proudly on four legs there stood what could only be described as a grossly deformed cat, vaguely resembling an oversized Sphinx cat, it had a very thin coat of fur and slender body shape with various marks drawn all over his body.

It had a very starved and skeletal appearance, so much that his bones could be seen poking through his skin.

But the most remarkable feature was his head, large and completely disproportionate compare to the rest of his body, bearing the most unsettling smile he had ever seen in his life.

Apart from the initial surprise Simon wasn't really afraid of him that merely curious of this strange looking animal.

"What? Never seen a cat in your life?" The cat tilted his head slightly onto the side.

"Cats don't usually talk from where I came from" Simon replied as calmly as he possibly could.

"Oh I am not doubting your word Simon in fact I know quite a lot of things about you," said the cat whilst he held a book wrapped in the coils of his tail.

Simon's expression changed from curiosity to fear as he saw the diary, his diary, in hands of the cat that stood right in front of him.

Hastily he opened his bag and look inside, it was empty.

"Give me that, you freak!" Said Simon, practically screaming at the animal, before lunging a hand towards the cat to snatch the book out of his grip.

But the cat reacted faster than him and in the blink of an eye, he disappeared into thin air.

"Show yourself cat!" Simon looked around him in search for his book and the cat, adrenaline rushing through his body just like before.

"I am over here," a calm and soothing voice called for him, and there he was, sitting composedly on top of a rock that was far larger than the man himself, the cat.

Simon rushed to him to retrieve what was rightfully his, but this time he tried to use diplomacy instead of violence.

"That book doesn't belong to you, give it back to me" "not so fast young man, there is something you have to do for me if you want to have your belongings back," "I am not here for you amusement cat, give me my book back or else…."-"or else what Simon? What are you going to do about it?"

What was he going to do about it? Simon thought about it for a moment, the book was everything for him, his past, his memories, all of that could all be lost forever if the cat wanted to.

He was powerless and could do nothing but submit to the despotic orders of the cat.

"What do you want from me?" Asked the defeated Simon.

"Well you see Simon there is a damsel in distress who is in desperate need of his white knight, and you might be the right man to do the job"

Said the cat with the most smugly grin printed all over his face.

"So, do we have a deal?" the cat asked.

Simon lowered his head one more time to reflect, he could not simply walk away and leave his diary in the middle of nowhere, assuming there was a way out, to begin with.

He raised his head one more time to look at the cat, his expression of glee made his blood boil but had restrained himself to strangle the cat to death, much to his disappointment.

"Deal," said Simon with a thread of voice.

"I knew you would make the right choice," said the cat before teleporting on top of a branch outside the clearing and into the forest.

"Hush, there is a long way ahead of us."

Simon followed obediently, leaving the clearing behind.


	5. Wonders To Behold

The cat looked down upon the forest perched on top of the tallest branch of a tree, the sun had long reached its zenith but little light could seep through the thick layers of leaves to reach the undergrowth, the cat itself took advantage of the darkness for only his eyes could be seen while the rest of his body was left in the shadows.

Silence reigned supreme in the forest, his big menacing eyes focused on the slender figure of a man far away from him, Simon.

He didn't really know all that much about him, apart from the things he had read from his diary, in fact, there was still some scepticism lingering within him about whether or not he could be the right man to solve his problems, but unfortunately it was all too late for him to turn back now.

He told Simon to follow him and surprisingly the man had proven himself to be quite the athlete, being able to follow and sometimes even match the cat in both speed and agility, whenever it was matter of climbing a steep cliff to reach a ledge or crossing a river by using domino pieces, Simon always managed to be behind his tail.

But Wonderland was never meant for an outsider and the cat knew that very well, things that were simple for him could be downright impossible for Simon, and for this reason, he always had to think twice before choosing a path.

Simon, on the other hand, wasn't really despising this journey as much as he expected, sure he had lost his diary and was almost killed by a giant snake made of black goo but at the same time, he had to admit that wonderland wasn't half bad once he moved past its flaws.

Nothing of what he was seeing here could be could be compared to any of his past dreams, from the trees to the rivers everything was truly wondrous to behold.

Simon was so immersed in the scenery around him that he did not notice the gaping chasm in front of him.

"Get yourself back Simon," Said the Cheshire cat from above.

Distracted by a colorful butterfly that was lazily flying beside him, Simon quickly turned his attention to the path ahead and stopped dead in his track right before the edge of the cliff.

" _Good grief, that was close,"_ Simon thought as he looked over the cliff.

He noticed that on his left there was another of those statues he saw before in the forest, but unlike the others, this one was carved in the stone of an entire mountainside and was next to intact.

The statue depicted a woman, about his same age, with both hands on her face in a pose that conveyed sorrow and desperation.

Water was flowing down from her partially closed eyelids, creating an artificial waterfall that filled a crystal clear river below.

"Who is she?" Asked Simon more to himself than to anyone else.

"She is the reason you I brought you here Simon" The menacing voice of the cat answered his question.

"Come to think of it you still haven't told who are you or what is this place, to begin with"

"Oh really?" The cat vanished into to thin air and then reappeared right in front of Simon.

"I beg you pardon Simon, even someone such as myself forgets about manners from time to time" The cat sat proudly whilst keeping his iconic grin.

"But everything at its time, I'll give you some explanations as we move along"

Both the Cat and Simon moved side by side along a path that led towards the grey statue of the unknown woman, as they walk the Cat introduced himself and started to explain to Simon this strange place he called Wonderland and the strange creatures that lived within it.

The Cat talked for what felt like hours as they walked the lonely road and Simon remained silent as he listened to the unbelievable tale until the dark shadow of the statue was upon both of them.

"Wait, so you are telling me that this is not my mind and that somehow I managed to breach through another person's consciousness?" Asked Simon whilst rubbing the bridge of his nose in confusion.

"I couldn't have said it better myself" Replied the cat in calmest manner possible.

"This…..just makes no sense whatsoever."

"It's funny that you say that considering the things you have seen and done in the past that are all written in the book which I possess, so if you don't mind not wasting time talking nonsense I think we shall proceed"

"So I am just a means to an end to you?"

"Exactly" Simon didn't dare to respond.

When they reached their destination the cat revealed a pathway behind some thick bushes that led to a hollowed portion of the statue hidden behind the waterfall, the caver's stone walls were smooth and round and narrowed down at the opposite end, giving it a funnel-shaped appearance.

At the other end of the cavern stood a comically small door, akin to the one of a dollhouse, painted in shades of pink and red.

Promptly the door opened on its own as soon as the Cheshire Cat reached its vicinity and the slick feline stepped through it.

"Mind your head, Simon, the ceiling is quite lo.." But before he could finish his sentence the cat heard a loud thud and the sound of some profanities spoken in an unknown language coming from behind him.

The doorway led to a long staircase that runs downward and through the mountain.

Simon found this passage to be rather claustrophobic despite having done a fair bit of crawling in the past, the ceiling was extremely low to the point where he had to keep his back hunched forward just so that he could move and the walls were so close to each other that his elbows brushed off the side if he held his arms too far apart.

The light was provided by a series of glowing gems embedded in the stone, albeit very small they provided enough light to see the path ahead just enough to travel safely.

The cat walked down the stone staircase for what felt like hours with Simon right behind him, with none of them saying a word Simon focused on the sound of his overly classy shoes tapping against the floor to distract himself, yet there where still a lot of things that didn't feel right about this situation, not that it even made sense before.

"So…..this Alice, you said that she is stuck in one of her memories or something like that right?" Asked Simon hesitantly to break the silence.

"Correct, the trauma caused by a recent misfortune caused her to lose what little control he had over Wonderland and now is forced to live that same memory every time she loses consciousness"

"And I my job here is to free her from this imprisonment, correct? But how am supposed to do that?" A muffled chuckle escaped the cat's lips.

"I am glad you asked Simon because I know that you will not like the answer."

" _I have not liked most of the answers you gave me,"_ Simon thought, but instead of protesting he just rolled his eyes and focused on the path ahead, which he noticed was getting far less tight as they moved forward.

"You see Simon, Wonderland has originally Alice's safe place, a place where he could go whenever she wanted to escape from all the hardships and pain of the real world."

"Which means that?" Simon interrupted.

"Which means that if we, you, can cause her enough stress within the encasement of her memory she will be forced to retreat to Wonderland"

The narrow staircase finally led to a more open room that looked like a hall with a mosaic floor made out of irregular pieces of glass shards, shining down from above a single beam of sunlight crept through a hole in the ceiling and illuminated the hall by reflecting against the glass floor.

"Be mindful of where you put your feet, Simon, this floor is about as ancient as Wonderland itself," Said the cat before moving towards a small cabin at the other end of the room.

Simon tried to follow the cat's steps but found himself strangely attracted by the mosaic below him.

He went all over the room to look at the fine craft before him, inspecting every inch of it until he had composed the full picture.

It depicted a woman, very likely the same woman of the statues he had seen before, only this time the mosaic added more details to his persona and, most importantly, colors.

The woman wore a navy blue maid outfit with puffy shoulders and a white apron, her skin was pale and her hairs were raven black.

She was depicted sleeping with both of her hands on her chest and clutching at some kind of necklace.

Simon knelt down to take a better look at the ornament on her neck but found it very difficult to distinguish it from the rest of her attire, what he did notice however was a small crack in the glass slowly expanding around him.

Before Simon could stand up the glass right below him shattered causing him to fall beneath the floor and into a dark cavity.

Simon fell for a couple of meters beneath the surface before landing on his back followed by a shower of broken glass which he promptly tried to keep it away from his face.

Alerted by the noise, the cat spun around and peeked through the hole in the mosaic.

"Simon, is everything alright?" Asked the cat.

All of Simon's breath was expelled as soon as he made contact with the hard floor but was still conscious.

"I think…I am fine, but now I am kind of stuck down here."

"You stay there Simon; I'll see if I can get you out of there," Said the cat before disappearing from sight.

Simon rose from the ground, carefully trying not to stab himself with all the shards that covered him, he had a few scratches all over his body with some more serious than others but nothing too severe to have caused any major damage.

When he was done dusting off all the glass from his clothes Simon inspected the hollow in which he had fallen, it was a small cavity right below the mosaic floor with smooth walls and checker-patterned pavement.

Partially hidden by the shadows Simon also saw a doorway connect to a corridor leading to a dark unknown, he stared at the passage for a few seconds trying to see if something was staring back at him but found nothing.

He then looked at the hole in the mosaic, he considered staying there and waiting for the help of the Cheshire cat.

Yet he couldn't resist wondering what lied beyond that barrier of shadow, concealed for his sight.

"Maybe I'll find another way out if I go that way," He said to himself, his curiosity having the best on him.

Simon peered through the entrance and was greeted by a cold wind of stale air washing his face of any last bit of warmth of sunlight, he had a strange feeling about it.

After taking a match from his bag he lit it against the wall to make some light and walked through the doorway, much to his surprise the corridor was very short and led to a more opened area with a high ceiling and the same checker-patterned pavement as before.

Simon lit another match and moved along the wall, carefully looking at his feet to see if there were any other cracks that could cause any more damage.

While he circled around the room Simon noticed some chalks doodles scribbled across the walls, akin to the drawings of a small child.

The first doodle he saw was a crude depiction of a house, a simple square with a triangular roof and two windows, then four stick figure close to each other, two of them being taller than the other.

He then saw the doodle of a rabbit, then a cat, then cards, the doodles were all relatively innocent but as time went on the drawings became more and more disturbing.

The same doodle of a house that he saw before was now engulfed in fire, he saw knives, teeth, strange clockwork devices, they all kept appearing on the walls as he moved along the dark room.

"I don't like where this is going."

Many matches later he circled the entire hall and returned at the point where he had started.

Not noticing a small boulder on the ground he tripped over it and spilled his box of matches on the floor leaving him in the complete darkness.

After muttering a curse Simon moved closer to the center of the room with his hands and knees on the ground trying to find some matches to make light.

He sensed the pavement with his touch in reach for his box, but along the way, he also felt some other hard objects which he assumed were other rocks and then the cold stiffness of metal? He couldn't be sure, but for all know there could be anything hiding in the shadows.

Simon sigh in relief when he felt the rectangular-shaped box in his hand and lit a match without hesitation.

Through the light he saw the rocks on the floor along with some metal scraps of unknown use, he looked at the rocks with particular interest since they were oddly smooth, white and placed in a pattern along with some rusted metal parts.

It took a while to click on him but after looking at the rocks for some time he came to a shocking realization.

"These are not rocks but bones"

The skeleton of a huge best laid before him, it looked like a reptile yet he could see wings and it also had some form of metal augmentations that replaced missing parts of his skeleton.

" _Well, I am glad that this thing is dead_ " Simon thought as he observed its terrifying teeth and talons.

Suddenly Simon's attention was caught by a noise coming from across the room, like a wet thud akin to drenched rag hitting a hard surface.

Simon spun around and pre-emptively aimed his gun at where he assumed the noise's source was coming from, he could not really tell what happened since the light from his match only illuminated a few inches away from him.

After the initial noise there was only silence but Simon kept listening, waiting for something to jump at him, his impatient getting stronger and stronger as time went on but he didn't dare to move first, he kept his arm steady and his gun pointed in front of him, his heath was about to explode in his chest.

Then he heard other noises coming from the darkness, it started as a wet and squishy sound, like of oil or slime pouring on the pavement, then it turned bubbly.

Simon started to hear low grunts and moans coming from an unknown source, it was quite hard to tell for him since that room made it echo quite a bit, but nonetheless, he was sure that something was there with him.

Then from the darkness, a face came into view, it was round and pale with very little distinct features, Simon could not see very well thanks to the lack of light so he had a moment of hesitation, but when he did recognize the thing it was already too late.

Swiftly a black mass of goo leaped from the floor and landed on Simon's chest, he pulled the trigger of his gun but the bullet went straight through the amorphous mass without any effect.

Before the match in his hand expired Simon was able to take a better look at his foe, it looked like black blob of slime with one of those eyeless doll heads sticking out of his mass, he remembered the Cheshire Cat said something about a train and creatures made out of "ruin" but could not recall his exact words.

The black mass pinned Simon to the ground and started to crawl all over his body.

"It's trying to consume me," Simon thought.

He fired a few more rounds but with the same results as before, he tried bashing the doll head with his gun but only got his right hand stuck in the slime.

"FUCK," Simon's body was almost completely inside the black mass leaving only his head and left arm free, immobilized and completely blind Simon searched the floor for something useful with his only good arm.

He found something woody and metallic under his hand, he felt something akin to a grip and a trigger, a gun perhaps? He wasn't sure since he could not see.

The weapon was rather heavy and it took all the strength in his body to lift it, Simon raised his newfound gun in the air and aimed it at the blob who was working its way up his neck.

Wishfully praying for a miracle he pulled the trigger and watched as a bright flash came from the barrel of the gun and illuminated the hall briefly, followed by a loud bang and a dreadful screeching sound of the dying monster.


	6. Individuals Through Tragedies

The whistle in Alice's ears subsided as the train speed through Moorgate Station and disappeared into the dark tunnel, leaving nothing but death and destruction in its wake.

The sound of the locomotive filled her ears before fading away, leaving her alone in complete silence.

She had lived this memory many times in the past, she had seen Moorgate Station, and the streets of London through her sickening and distorted perception.

Everything was unmoving, untouched, frozen in time, yet she had never managed to caught glimpse of the train that had put an end to her therapist's life.

However, things were different this time, when Alice opened her eyes she saw that neither the train tracks nor her apron were stained red.

The station looked different, it was wider more brightly lit.

She looked around and saw signs written in a language that was incomprehensible to her.

"This is definitely not Moorgate Station," She thought after finally realizing that she had no idea of where she was.

It was larger, splitting into multiple paths that led into a dark unknown.

During many occasions, she could have sworn to have heard various lament coming from the darkness.

Alice found a staircase that led outside and into the streets of a city that was most definitely not London.

It was night-time and the sky was a pitch black mass devoid of any stars that seemed to creep and consume everything that wasn't exposed to light.

The empty streets were lit by abundant street lights distributed in a regular pattern.

All the shops and houses were dark and gave no signs of life from the inside, she saw more signs with even more incomprehensible words written on them.

"What kind of gibberish is this?" Said Alice in frustration as she tried and failed to read one of them.

Unsure of where to go, she picked a direction and started walking forward, aimlessly.

" _This place can not be wonderland,"_ She thought" Everything _it's too dark and too lifelike, if I could even call that way, to be Wonderland, nothing is out of the ordinary…..just eerie, could this be an uncharted region of Wonderland? No, it can't be, but I have a feeling that the something must have happened for this to happen."_

She walked through the empty streets hearing nothing but the sounds of her own footsteps and thoughts, yet in the distance, she could faintly make out the sound of hooves hitting against the hard floor, perhaps a carriage? She couldn't be sure.

Alice's train of thoughts was interrupted by the slender figure of a man walking towards her from the other end of the road.

He looked about as old as her and was dressed in what once was a good looking attire but was now ragged and stained.

His facial features were difficult to make out due to his hunching posture.

"Excuse me, sir, I think I am lost and I need directions," Said Alice out loud as she approached the young man, yet he didn't seem to notice her.

"Please, sir I need your help" The man, now in front of her, instead of stopping just phased through her as if she was made of thin air.

In a single motion she spun around, eyes widened in confusion as she looked at the back of the man who had just passed through her body like she never existed.

Alice started following him, "What just…? How did it happen?" She asked more to herself than to the man who was walking right in front of her, not that what she said really affected him.

As they walked through the empty streets Alice tried to place one hand on the man's shoulder but went right through his body effortlessly, she tried pocking him a couple of more time just to be sure but the result never changed.

" _I should probably not say this but I don't think this can get more unbelievable,"_ Alice contemplated what to do with him, the man wasn't really helping her in any way yet she couldn't shake a feeling of impending doom off of her.

"Help me, somebody," Both Alice and the man froze to the hoarse voice of a person coming from an ally on their right.

They saw an old man crawling out of the darkness whilst leaving a trail of blood behind him, he was clearly wounded.

"OH SHIT!" Yelled the man before running towards the other in his aid, Alice also picked up his pace to run alongside him.

But as they were crossing the street a large coach appeared from the same ally on the right running at incredible speed for a vehicle of that size.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl of her in that instant

She saw the young man being violently thrown into the ground by the horses before getting run over by the front and back wheels.

Suddenly Alice felt a sharp pain running through her body despite the wagon had phased through her.

It started as a general sickness throughout her body before it grew in intensity and localized itself in her pelvis.

Alice fell hands and knees on the ground clutching at her aching region, she felt like as if something was tearing away at her lower body.

She painfully glanced at the young man who was laying on the ground with his limbs horribly twisted and an expression of agony printed all over his face, he was no longer conscious.

Neither the old man nor the coach could be seen.

The weight bearing down upon her body was becoming too much.

Alice took one last effort to reach out to the man before her hands and legs finally gave away and collapsed into the ground, her eyelids weakly opening and closing. The last thing she heard before passing out was the sound of horses fading away in the night.

* * *

When she finally opened her eyes there were only colors and shapes.

She blinked a few more times to restore her vision and groaned loudly.

Her head felt cloudy, and her skin was glistering with cold sweat but the pain subsided.

Alice tiredly looked around, taking in her surroundings.

The room was dimly lit, with a trembling light that seeped from the cracks of a barricaded window.

She was laying on a bed with white sheets, and as her eyes got used to the darkness she saw a nightstand beside her and a mirror.

Alice sat up sluggishly, feeling dizzy and disoriented.

Her hand fell on the nightstand to support herself but ended up touching something sharp.

Startled, she immediately retracted her hand as a drop of blood ran down her fingers.

Alice took a closer look at the knife on the table and recognized the fancy incisions on the blade.

" _Why is the vorpal blade here?"_ Alice wondered as she took the weapon in her hand, tracing its delicate decorations.

" _Well, better safe than sorry,"_ tucking the weapon in her apron's pocket, Alice got off the bed, her legs felt a little bit shaky but she could still walk.

"I don't know where am I or why I am here. But if there is one thing that I know with certainty is that this is not Wonderland."

Alice walked up to the window across the room, it was covered with wooden planks that formed a solid barricade.

She didn't even attempt to remove them, and instead opted to focus on the only door in the room.

She turned the knob but, not much to her surprise, it didn't budge.

Alice checked her pockets to see if there was anything that she could use to get the door to open.

Her fingers reached for a stiff and grainy object inside her pockets, and when she pulled out her hand she found a white piece of chalk sitting in her palm.

"Where the bloody hell did this thing came from?" Alice squinted her eyes as she looked at the little limestone rock in her hand.

The silence around her was abruptly broken by the distant sound of footsteps coming from behind the door, Alice pressed one ear against the wooden surface and held her breath.

They were slow but steady, echoing within the white walls of the room.

The sound grew louder as the source got closer to the door.

Alice gripped onto the vorpal blade tightly, ready to attack whatever lied beyond the wooden door.

Then the footsteps stopped as abruptly as they came.

Alice pressed kept her ear pressed against the door but not a noise could be heard from the other side.

Her hands were sweaty but her body didn't dare to move.

She heard something sliding under the door, and when she looked down she saw a yellowish sheet of paper with the words "BEYOND THE LOOKING GLASS" written on it.

Through the door, she heard the sound of the stranger walking away.

Alice started breathing again, she eased the tension in her muscles and sheeted her knife.

She knelt down and picked up the yellow sheet in her hand, feeling the crusty texture of the paper between her fingers.

"Beyond the looking glass" She repeated the four words in her head a couple of times, contemplating on their meaning.

Alice glanced at the large mirror that stood opposite to the door.

It was large enough that she could see her entire body and the door behind her.

Then Alice saw, in the reflection, that door was wide open.

She spun around to see if her eyes had deceived her, but when she saw that the door in the room was still closed she knew she had seen right.

Alice approached the mirror, taking every steep with extreme precaution.

She checked behind herself one more time just to be sure before stretching an arm to touch the reflective surface.

It went right through it.

Her fingers swirled through the ethereal object, which rippled like a body of water with every twist and turn of her hand.

She took a moment to amuse herself before plunging her whole body into the reflection.

Alice landed with a thud to the ground, followed by a shower of glass shards.

As she got up and dusted off the broken pieces of the mirror she noticed that the room was identical to the previous one, but this time it was wide open, leading to a narrow corridor.

A smirk of satisfaction appeared on Alice's lips as she exited the room and closed the door behind.

The corridor was dim lit and had no windows.

The only source of light was a rusty chandelier hanging low from the ceiling.

On the right side, there were five doors, all of them had a numbered tag ranging from one to five.

On the left side, there were five benches, each of them stood perfectly opposite the doors on the right.

A large double door stood closed on the other end of the corridor.

Alice turned the knob of every single door, and every single one of them didn't budge.

Frustrated, she went straight to the double door, which opened without any resistance, and entered into a corridor.

Her expression turned into a frown when she saw five doors on the right, five benches on the left, a chandelier, and a double door

She turned around to glance at the room that she had just left but was met with a cold white wall, the double door was nowhere to be seen.

 _"_ _This place just wants to mess with me,"_ Alice tried to assure herself, but she would be lying if she said that this place was hadn't made an effect on her.

Alice observed the five doors and noticed that the tags on the doors were missing.

Once again she tried to turn the knobs but none of the doors opened.

She opened the double door and entered into another corridor.

 _"_ _Five doors, five benches, a chandelier and a double door,"_ Alice counted.

She went to the doors on the right but she found no knobs to turn.

The "doors" were merely slabs of wood embedded into the wall.

Through the double doors, she went, and into another corridor.

Alice looked up and saw that the chandelier was gone, yet a trembling light was emanating from the ceiling.

Suddenly her body was overwhelmed by a sense of dread, and she started running.

She crashed against the double door and landed into the next corridor.

"Four doors, four benches, one double door," next corridor.

"Three doors, three benches, one double door," next corridor.

"Two doors, two benches, one double door," next corridor.

"one door, one bench, one double door," next corridor.

Alice rushed through an empty white room, lacking any of the previous furniture.

The only thing that was left was a double door at the end of the other end of the hallway.

Her heart was hammering in her chest and her legs were starting to ache but she couldn't stop running.

She was certain that something was chasing her, something very dangerous and evil.

She opened the double door with all the strength that was left in her body, and then everything went dark again.


	7. The Absent Light

There was only darkness at first, then came the colors, exploding from the deepest corners of her minds but beyond that, there was only darkness.

A cacophony of whispered echoed in her ears as swirling spirals of opalescent shades deceived her vision.

The fall, it was the last thing she remembered.

Fleeting, the screaming flesh of her legs and the lack of breath.

Fleeting from who? She didn't know.

Alice was awake yet not conscious, her body encased in a paralyzed state.

She was barely aware of her body being lifted from the ground and dragged away by an unknown force.

Sealed eye-lids leaving her hearing as the only sense left.

Amidst the orchestra of distant sound, she kept listening for any clues to determine who or what was dragging her, but she could only hear the sound of her legs sliding against the floor.

Alice could feel her body weakening with each passing second but didn't cave into the feeling of slumber, mustering all of her remaining strength to keep herself awake.

Suddenly whatever suspended her above the ground disappeared, dropping Alice on the cold floor of the newly entered room.

Alice felt a rush of adrenaline as she made contact with the floor, and the hallucinations disappeared shortly after.

Feeling very awake and responsive she rose from the ground and draw the vorpal blade.

Her eyes and ears started scanning the room for anything out of the ordinary whilst she kept a defensive stance.

Case in point, the room itself was quite out of the ordinary.

It was dark, certainly, yet Alice could see her own body perfectly as if it emitted a light of its own.

As the previous surge of adrenaline died off Alice lowered her defenses and turned her attention on the room in which she stood.

Everything was pitch black, the floor, the ceiling, everything was devoid of all colors.

Yet as her eyes got accustomed to the darkness and her vision cleared she noticed a series of white lines creeping out of the walls and outlining the corners of the room.

The lines appeared sketchy and irregular as if they were drawn by a trembling hand.

"Thankfully I am quite accustomed to this kind of things," Alice commented, being no stranger to shape-shifting rooms herself.

She took a step forward, and so did all the scribbled drawings, slithering like serpents across the wall.

They twisted and turned into incomprehensible shapes until they finally settled into very recognizable objects.

Alice's glared the drawings in distaste.

" _Five doors, five benches, a chandelier, and a double door,"_ Alice counted, her expression turning into a frown.

It almost felt as if the room itself was mocking her.

Taunting her seemingly not being able to find the solution to its enigma.

But Alice knew better than to let her emotion run wild, so she kept her usual composure and proceeded forward.

The drawings mimicked the objects from the previous rooms and, albeit crudely made, were easily distinguishable from the background.

Yet when she reached the end of the hallway she didn't come across any drawings of a door and was met with a plain black wall.

She was confused, at first, Alice knew that there was a way out somewhere nearby but she could not figure where she was supposed to go.

She looked at the doodles behind her, they were all white and shaky, as if they were drawn with…chalk.

An idea suddenly struck Alice.

She dug through her pockets and fished out the piece of white chalk, which was surprisingly still intact despite the previous ruckus.

Alice held the little object in her hand and moved it closer to the wall.

"If this doesn't work then I am out of ideas," She muttered under her breath before drawing a crude vertical line.

She continued drawing lines until she had a rough image resembling a double door, complete with handles and hinges.

Alice placed the remains of the chalks in her pocket, and pressed both of her hands onto the newly created "door".

It didn't move, at first, but after applying a greater pressure Alice could feel that something was moving in front of her.

A sound of cracking stone filled her surroundings.

It took her by surprise when the walls suddenly split open and made her fall into a new room, before closing permanently behind her.

"What an eventful day," Alice commented sarcastically after falling face first on the ground.

Sluggishly getting up on her feet, she waited for the dullness in her face to subside and took her time to observe the room in which she stood.

It looked normal, for the most part, a normal looking flat, with normal looking interiors.

Definitely a nice change of pace from the previous environment.

It had a large rectangular table in the middle with four chairs neatly placed on each side.

A single lit candle sat on the smooth wooden furniture, serving as the only light source in the room.

Alice saw a couch, a wardrobe, and various shelves filled with books.

A single pendulum clock stood in a corner of the room, counting the passing seconds with its relentless ticking.

The wardrobe was the first furniture that she inspected, thinking that it might hold something of value, but mostly out of curiosity.

Carefully opening the wardrobe, Alice's eyes lit up with glee as they settled onto the familiar shape of another weapon of hers, the hobby horse.

Part of her was rather suspicious of the presence of such weapon in a place like this, but she mostly overjoyed to see something that wasn't alien to her.

Alice took the blunt weapon in her hands to feel the weight, gladly seeing that she could still handle it fairly well, before shrinking the wooden horse in size and placing it in her apron's pocket.

Wonderland's power still lingered inside her, she noticed.

The young woman then walked over one of the shelves and picked up a book, she flicked through the pages and tried to read a few lines, but found herself squinting her eyes in confusion when she failed to decipher its content, probably written in the same language as the signs she had seen before.

Then something else caught her attention, on the far corner of the living room she saw another dim lit room.

Alice focused her attention on her hearing and picked up a faint wet noise coming from the aforementioned room.

Intrigued, Alice placed the book on its original spot and carefully proceeded towards the room, making sure to make as little noise as possible, almost as if she was afraid to awake its inhabitants.

Alice could not understand, she was used to her sessions in Wonderland, she had seen all sorts of dreadful visions during the last ten years and yet there was something particularly unnerving about this unknown region of her mind, she truly could not understand.

Reaching to the door frame she tilted her head and peered inside the confined space, what she saw inside deeply shocked her.

Inside, there was a humanoid figure lying in a bathtub filled with blood, leaving only its head and chest visible.

Alice could practically feel her bowels contorting in disgust from the foul stench that was wafting all around her, and yet dared to take another peek inside.

The body was disfigured to the point being unrecognizable.

It had a series of cuts all over its shoulders, accompanied by a few stabs wounds on its chest, all leaking with the same crimson liquid.

The neck was severed almost to the bone, leaving the head tilted in a very unnatural position.

It wasn't hard for her to guess how this poor soul perished.

Alice's eyes shifted from one place to another, restlessly, she clearly was disturbed but could not help but wonder who could have such a horrible act.

" _But then again I am not better of whoever did this,"_ Alice reminded herself, briefly remembering the dirty deeds of her past.

Pushing what little conscience was left in her, Alice's vision settled on a specific part of the cadaver, its face, or more correctly, the white mask that was covering said face.

The entire bathroom was surprisingly clean, despite the butchered remains in the bathtub, and the mask was no exception.

It was immaculate, perfectly clean to the point of looking shiny, it sat perfectly on the cadaver's face, covering what Alice assumed would be another grotesque spectacle.

The mask's features were somewhat feminine, but It was something that was hard to tell considering the sparse lighting.

Alice's breath slowed down to a normal pace, and stood still by the doorframe, observing the mask from afar.

And then an idea spawn within her sickened mind, she wanted to see its face.

"If I were to recognize this person, then maybe I would get some answers about this damn place," Alice pondered as she scratched her chin with her thumb and index.

She didn't want to do it, all she truly wanted was to wake up in her bed and start another day, but she also wanted to get some answers.

Her dream session was becoming even more unstable, and she wanted to know why.

Placing her right foot on the bathroom's tiles, she studied the interior for anything that could be deemed threatening.

Taking another step forward once she assessed that everything safe, she reached for the drenched bathtub.

Alice looked at the twisted figure below her, she felt a hint of compassion rising within her but ultimately died down when her hand reached down.

Alice's fingers briefly traced the white cheeks of the adornment before clutching the sides in his grip and pulling up.

The mask came off with relative ease, revealing the face that was concealed beneath.

Safe to say, it wasn't a pretty sight.

Just like the rest of its body, the cadaver's bald head was deeply mutilated.

Its eyes, nose, and teeth were all absent, along with large portions of the skin on the cheeks and forehead.

It was a bloody mess, unrecognizable, and ultimately useless.

Alice felt another surge of bile arising from her innards but hastily left the bath before it could move any further.

Making her way through the living room, Alice placed the white mask on the table and was about to take a chair for herself.

She wanted to reflect on her next move, but then another noise called her attention back to the bathroom.

It sounded like water crashing against a hard surface, it was sudden and loud, startling Alice and making her draw her trusty knife.

She spun around to face the source of the noise, and then she saw It.

Standing perfectly straight in a bathtub of blood stood the, not so dead, dead body.

Its empty sockets stared deeply into Alice's emerald eyes.

Blood was pouring out of its gaping mouth and nose, dripping down its skinless face and into the red pool below.

From her position Alice could see the cadaver in its integrity, every wound, gash or cut was visible for the whole world to see.

A display of death and decay which was only briefly memorized by Alice's brain as it tried to salvage what little sanity was left.

Both the living and the dead stood still for a couple of minutes, doing nothing but looking at each other.

The tension in the room was becoming palpable.

The cadaver briefly averted its gaze from the young woman to look at the mask which laid beside her.

It started at the white object for a few more minutes before raising one of its mangled arms into the air and extending its hand towards it.

The dead then shifted his torn limb towards the nearest wall, all the while keeping his unmoving gaze fixed on Alice.

It brought down its bloody fingers onto the wall and wrote an E, followed by a Y, continuing with another E, and ending with an S.

Once it was done its fingers turned limp just like the rest of the body.

The cadaver fell forwards, slipping out of the bathtub and landing onto the cold tiles with a sickening thud, lifeless.

As the room fell into silence once again Alice observed the corpse with wide eyes, out of all the things that she had to see during this night this was the most unnerving of all of them.

Carefully looking around herself, Alice expected to be attacked by other monstrosities but instead found no one else in the room.

That was when it finally it her, the room had no exits, neither doors nor windows could be seen.

Alice's breathing briefly became erratic but slowed down shortly after before it could degenerate any further.

"Calm down Alice, remember the doctor's breathing technique," Alice's body shivered at the mention of her former doctor, but the breathing technique turned out to be very useful, much to her surprise.

Alice took a seat for herself, she needed to find a way out of this nightmare and had to concentrate.

Alice's gaze fell upon the word the cadaver wrote before dying once again.

"Eyes," Alice repeated the word a few times, she had seen the cadaver pointing at the mask that she had taken.

She shifted her attention onto the expressionless mask beside her.

The pieces were starting to align in her head.

" _Eyes, mask, the cadaver's mask, the cadaver's eyes, through the mask, through the eyes of the dead,"_ Alice spoke loudly in her thoughts.

Jumping from her seat, she took the mask her hand and turned it around so she could see the inside of it.

Hesitantly at first, Alice brought the mask to her face and looked through the eye sockets.

Her vision was blurry at first but as the images became clear Alice found herself in a room that was completely different from the previous.

What once was a cozy living room now looked like the inside of an abandoned mansion.

The walls were stained with an even layer of dust, only interrupted by patches of holes that filled its structure.

The disconnected floor was littered with the debris from the collapsed ceiling and rotting wood.

The furniture was broken beyond recognition, decaying, and stained with the same filth that tainted the walls.

The nauseating smell of stale air filled the air around her.

Alice looked around, still keeping the mask glued to her face, and noticed that the bathroom was mission altogether and in its place stood an open door to a pitch black void.

Reluctantly at first, Alice approached the door with extreme awareness.

She peered inside to see what lied ahead but was met with the same dense darkness.

Plunging through the blackness, Alice moved forward without looking back, if that was the only way out of this hellhole then so be it.

At first, it was hard for her to distinguish the environment, but as her eyes got accustomed to the darkness Alice started to pick up a few important clues.

The place was large and shaped like a tunnel, a tunnel which apparently had no light at the end of it.

It was large enough that she could hear the echo of her own footsteps.

Alice looked down and saw what appeared to be train-rails on the ground, but about four times as large as any normal train rails.

Was she on some sort train track? Alice could not even bother to know at this point.

After all of her years in Wonderland, even the most outlandish architectures looked reasonable to her.

Suddenly, a booming noise reverberated throughout the tunnel and very ground started shaking violently.

The British woman spun around and saw the distant figure of a locomotive, coming her way.

The machine was somehow unaffected by the overall darkness.

Its engine whistled and roared like an angry beast, leaving a trail of dense smoke at it moved along.

As the animal of metal shortened the gap between Alice and itself, it revealed its true nature to the young woman.

And for the first time, Alice felt genuine terror.

What looked like a normal train abruptly morphed into no other the infernal train itself, the massive amalgamation of cathedrals that devastated wonderland.

It was noticeably smaller than its original counterpart but it still towered above Alice.

Pure horror rippled through Alice psyche as she witnessed her presumed-dead enemy coming back to finally put an end to her existence.

Wasting no time with senseless questions, Alice turned around and ran as she had never done before, a breathless, erratic run.

But despite her speed, the infernal train was largely faster than her, being able to gain additional ground with each step Alice took.

She needed to find a hideout, and she needed it quickly.

The tunnel seemed endless, stretching in a single direction as far as her eyes could see.

But then, in the distance, Alice spotted the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, or in her case a light on the right side of the tunnel.

It was a large opening that stood on top of a slight elevation.

With the train mere feet away from her back, Alice accelerated her pace for the final rush and leaped into the air.

For the second time, time slowed down to a crawl, and everything moved as if it was underwater.

Alice looked back at the infernal train and noticed a dark figure perched on top of one of its many spires, it briefly looked at Alice dead in the eyes before disappearing.

Alice landed onto the hard floor of the opening with the train following shortly after.

Its immense size sent shockwaves through the shorter structure, cracking parts of the walls and ceiling.

Alice laid down on her stomach and put her arms over her head to shield herself from the incoming rain of falling debris.

Destruction waged all around her as the train wrecked the haven with its sheer size alone.

After a full minute of tremors, the train finally proceeded its course through the dark tunnel, leaving nothing but death and destruction in its wake.

When the noise subsided, Alice meekly opened her eyes and recognized the place in which she stood, or laid.

Moorgate Station, the place where her tribulation begun.

She wanted to say something witty to comment on this ironic turn of events, but she truly felt devoid of all energy, all she wanted was to know what was happening to her.

Groggily rising from her cowering spot, Alice removed the remaining debris, some stuck in her clothes, some stuck in her very flesh.

Alice looked at the stone staircase with eyes full of hope.

There was only one place where she could return to the real world.

"I'll get the answers that I want….if it's the last thing I do.


	8. Intermission

The blinding light only lasted for a second before dissipating into nothingness.

The deafening sound of the gunshot echoed throughout the empty room before it too was suffocated.

Simon rested his head onto the cold floor, feeling a sense of serenity washing away the adrenaline from his body.

He clutched his newfound weapon as if his life depended on it, which wasn't that far off the truth.

"I need to go, Cheshire is probably waiting for me," Simon mumbled, feeling weird after referring to the Cheshire Cat in such a friendly manner, he didn't like to consider him a friend and much less an ally.

Groggily, he arose from the ground, the stickiness of his clothes making his every moment an obstacle to overcome.

Now Simon wasn't particularly afraid to get his hands dirty, especially when it came to life-threatening situations, and yet the contact of the sticky ooze with his skin made his whole body recoil.

He decided to bring his new gun with him, mostly because he was certain that he had no ammo left for his old one.

Simon stepped outside and into the light that seeped through the broken mosaic floor, he looked at the hole from which he fell and saw a tin rope ladder hanging down from it.

Without asking too many questions, Simon got a hold of the ladder and climbed up.

Once he reached the top of the hole Simon found the Cheshire Cat standing in front of him with his iconic grin plastered onto his face.

"Your endeavors are attracting rather undesirable elements" the large feline tilted his to the side to take a better look at the weapon in Simon's hand.

"But I can see that such escapades have revealed a forgot relic of the past."

Simon looked down at large weapon clutched in his grip, a blunderbuss, something that he had only seen in books.

The weapon appeared very worn and covered in rust, with an extremely crooked barrel and deformed muzzle fan.

Simon secured it on his back using a leather strap that hangs from underneath.

" _It's a miracle this death trap didn't blow up the first time I fired it,"_ Simon though.

"A blunderbuss in the hands of a blockhead is a catastrophe waiting to happen. You are not a dunderhead, much, but exercise great care."

The Cheshire Cat recited these words like something he was used to before heading towards the other end of the hall.

A Row of cylindrical elevators awaited the man and the animal, all made out of glass and complex clockwork mechanisms.

The Cheshire Cat stepped into the middle one with Simon following closely behind him.

The capsule closed shut without any input from the inside and ascended upwards leaving both man and cat in the dim light of its interior.

As the elevator ascended into darkness Cheshire locked eyes with Simon and asked:

"Do you like tea?"

Taken off guard by such a question Simon stood in complete silence for a few seconds, not really knowing what to say.

"No, not really, in fact, I quite dislike tea," He answered with still a bit of confusion in his voice.

The cat's usual smug expression suddenly turned into a frown, traced with hints of contempt followed by disgust and then disappointment.

"A pity, I guess you'll just have to put up a façade to impress the Duchess," His every word was drenched in malice.

With a sense of guilt pooling inside his stomach, Simon stayed quiet for most of the ride before a rather important question greeted his mind.

"Wait who is the Duchess?"

As the capsule finally reached its destination and both of them stepped outside into the wilderness, the Cheshire Cat flashed a big grin with a newfound glee in his eyes.

"Oh you'll see, you'll see very soon," the cat chuckles lightly before teleporting away once again.

* * *

 **Quick update to let you all know that I am still alive and working on this story.**


End file.
